How is it already August 1st?  I’ve had a post in the draft box since school ended.  The post about the hope for an intentional summer after having made it through the marathon that May was.  The desire to soak up summer and enjoy every second of the kids.  And here we are at August 1st.  And right this second, I feel we have nothing to show for it.

It sounds a bit whiny, I know.

I was talking about this with a friend who felt the same way.  I tried to blame it on the lack of a vacation.  She said it was more than that.  I agree.  However, I have to say taking a family vacation would have made this summer better.  That’s just me.  Lance reminded me we went out of town for Spring Break this year, (pictures I’ve yet to post…), but still, I associate summer with big family trips.

So it’s not the lack of family vacation, but I can’t put my finger on it.

There’s been reading.  But the start we had in June where we read for three hours a day, two of those nestled together on the couch, gone.  These days it’s the kids rushing through books on their own.  Not waiting for me to read with them.

There have been the library trips to see different shows, but Goose is getting just a bit older and sometimes would rather go off on his own that sit with us.  Problem: I don’t let him go off on his own yet, so there’s the fuss because he has to sit with me.  The shows themselves have been okay, some better than others, but there’s been no followup like I want.  Truly, the kids are taking the summer off.

No intentional learning time with me.  And not that I want them doing math facts or stuff like that, I just thought we’d pick a topic and dive into it.

We’re not doing it.  We’re not doing anything much.  We swim, we read, we eat, we play games…and while that should be more than enough, the summer just feels empty.

Which makes me really sad because I only have three weeks and 3 days to spend with the kids before they are forced back into school and homework, something I consider to be a huge waste of time.  One of my dearest friends is taking the plunge and homeschooling.  Talk about jealousy on my part.  We keep talking about curriculum and schedules and things that she wants to make sure and teach the kids, things they weren’t getting at school, things that I also consider important.

But back to our home.  We have three weeks basically to live our intentional summer.  I’m not sure what that means for this year, I just know that I don’t want to end the summer with the feeling I have right now.  It’s not about activities or trips.  It’s about enjoying our time together before someone else has the chance to spend more time with my children than me.  I’m going to mass tomorrow, hopefully, after some prayer, I’ll find some inspiration.